The Andrews University trails behind University Towers currently include many stumps from the recent logging that has taken place in the area. The logging included several forest areas owned by the university, and all the trees cut were of one species: black walnuts. Curious about why so many trees of this particular species are being cut down all of a sudden, I reached out to the Office of the President and did some research about black walnut trees. What I found was interesting.
The eastern American black walnut tree (Juglans nigra) is a type of hardwood tree that is native to Michigan and other parts of the Eastern and Southern U.S. They grow best in lower north- and east-facing slopes with good drainage and fertile soils. In mixed forests, black walnuts must be either dominant or co-dominant (which means they need to be the tallest or second tallest trees in the forest) because in their juvenile stage, they are intolerant of shade, and as adults, their canopy requires full sunlight.
This means that in closed canopies (established forests) the natural reproduction of black walnuts from seedlings almost never occurs because of the low chance that they will be in an area with the sunshine needed for them to grow until adulthood. Black walnuts are known as pioneering species—those that first arrive and grow in a new forest similar to red and silver maples. That means that the mature black walnuts in our forests have likely been around since the area was last fully logged more than a century ago.
The president’s office referred me to Stanley Beikmann, the Arboretum Council chair and curator. “The harvesting of trees around the Andrews campus is a normal and ecologically friendly practice,” Beikmann said. He explained that every few years this practice occurs, focusing on trees that have reached peak maturity and are beginning to decay.
“Due to their decay, these trees often become a hazard to people and the surrounding environment,” he added. “So, the removal of these aging and storm-damaged trees is all a part of God’s plan for rejuvenating the hard and softwood forests.”
He reinforced that the “growth, nurture, care, and safeguard of the Andrews University Arboretum is truly important to us and is so stated in our Mission Statement.”
When asked regarding the concern others have shown with regards to the trees being cut down, Beikmann replied, “The average layperson, nature lover, walker of the woods etc. appreciate nature as it is, often without seeing the broader picture of the value of forest management.” He then explained that non-native tree species need to be managed and removed so that native tree species, such as Cherry trees, Oaks, Sugar Maples, and Walnuts, can thrive.
However, his response seems contradictory to the information I have found concerning black walnuts. Firstly, black walnuts are native trees, so instead of protecting them, they were cut. Further, none of these trees seemed to have been damaged.
Katherine Koudele, professor of animal science and chair of the Andrews University Department of Sustainable Agriculture, expressed with great sorrow that she was not informed about the plan to cut the trees and only found out when she heard the sound of chainsaws right outside her workplace. When she went out, she was dismayed when she observed they were cutting down the heritage stand-alone mature black walnut next to the back barns at the north end of the lower campus.
“The owners of the farm that was purchased for the new site of Emmanuel Missionary College in 1901 had seen fit to spare that tree,” Koudele said. “This tree has been preserved for many decades, with the original dairy buildings intentionally being built around it.”
However, this singular, stand-alone tree was still cut down, even though it did not show any signs of decay, nor did it seem to pose a threat to the surrounding environment as a stand-alone tree.
“Generations of students and Andrews community members have enjoyed the beauty and shade of this heritage tree as they make their way to the riverside trails along the St. Joseph River,” Koudele added, visibly heartbroken.
Daniel Gonzalez-Socoloske, professor of biology and ecology at Andrews University, explained that the cutting of these trees—some of which are over 150 years old—would be a nonrecoverable loss that would affect not just the population of black walnuts in the area, but also the entire ecosystem of the forest. This is not to mention the collateral damage done to other trees in the area due to the effects of tree logging. He also confirmed what I had found regarding the difficulty of black walnuts naturally regenerating in an established forest.
Gonzalez-Socoloske further emphasized that this tree species will not be able to recover its previous numbers unless intensively managed.
“As a pioneering species, black walnuts are only competitive at the early stages of forest succession [development],” he said. “Once the forest is established, it is very difficult for them, due to their biology, to outcompete other native species for canopy space unless humans intervene and repeatedly open up the canopy. That takes money, expertise, and continued effort, which we are very unlikely to invest. It is a real shame that we decided to cut those mature trees without regard for their replacement or the effects on the forest ecosystem. I’m sure the late Dr. Woodland would be appalled.”
To find out whether such logging has taken place in past years or is considered commonplace, I talked to Tom Goodwin, professor of biology, who has been a faculty member at Andrews for over 30 years.
“For the last 30 plus years,” said Goodwin, “I have regularly walked the trails in the woods of our campus property. I have never seen anything like the destruction of some wooded areas being done by the loggers. Never. It’s painful and disheartening to see this happening, especially since I regularly walked past some of the grand old trees that have been cut down—and, in fact, have watched birds in some of them.”
Thus, not only have we lost many of our beautiful, mature black walnut trees that have been around for decades and, in some cases, over a century, but we will also likely be unable to recover them in our established mixed hardwood forests surrounding the Andrews campus. It is important to note that black walnuts can be planted as a long-term (30 plus years) investment tree crop in single-stand fields where they are intensely managed, but Andrews University did not plant any of these trees. The trees that were cut were all naturally seeded trees, some of which have been around for longer than the university. So perhaps Andrews should reconsider cutting trees in our natural forests that they have not planted, especially a species that is very unlikely to naturally recover in those forests due to its ecology.
In the past year or so, under the guidance of our new president, Andrews has established a Creation Care Council, which is tasked with the care of God’s creation. This new council has action groups that are looking at ways to improve our care for our natural world, including maintaining biodiversity. Furthermore, Andrews recently hosted the first Creation Care Conference last fall. These actions are all part of an effort supported by staff, faculty and students alike to make Andrews a more sustainable and ecologically conscientious campus. This direct effort by Andrews University has been wonderful; however, the action of cutting down trees in what appears to be an unsustainable manner is a major contradiction to their environmental goals.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.